Most people’s garden pond has frozen over during the last week so now perhaps is a good time to discuss pond safety during the winter time. Whilst garden ponds can provide a beautiful addition to your garden design they can also be quite dangerous places. Young children are always at risk near a garden pond if left unsupervised. And, because your pond may have frozen over it might be more enticing than usual.

If you want to make your pond much safer during the winter there are some things that you can do to help.

• If your pond freezes never be tempted to walk on the frozen surface – no matter how thick you think the ice may be. Try to defrost one section of the pond so the noxious gases produced by your fish can escape and so people can see the pond (with heavy snow it can sometimes be impossible to know where your pond is).
• You could install heavy duty meshing over the pond surface, this will support a child’s weight if they should fall in by accident and people will visually be able to locate the pond.
• Use slip resistant surfaces around the pond edge and make sure any lighting you have above or in your pond is working.
• Consider installing a low level fence around the pond’s edge. This might not be to everyone’s taste but is perhaps the best safety method available to prevent pond accidents.